Living a Lye
by petitehero
Summary: Katherine's her own brand of poison, but this time the Salvatores are sure she's not behind the latest killing spree in Mystic Falls. More than that, a newcomer is sure as well. It's time to reveal Lye Trick, the secret she'd lost and others hadn't known.
1. Red and White

A/N This is in my OC's perspective. Most characters from the show will be focused on at some point. This is a cast-centric story, and for some chapters I'll be suggesting a 'soundtrack' that fits the plot. Pretty pretty please be one of those Cool Kids who read all the Author's Notes, because I'll be clarifying plot events and backstory here, as well as supplying update notices. I'll try to keep them short. FINAL NOTE: Please try to give me constructive criticism at some point during your reading of this story; I'm really trying to better my writing and I value all of your opinions. My review monster's survival depends on you C: . All flames will be used to make s'mores. And no. I won't be sharing them with the flamers C: .

_London, 1797_

_ I watched the man alight from the carriage, not moving forward but turning right around to offer his lady a hand. As soon as he had her over the rough patch of road between the horses and the walkway, he tore his grasp-if with the gentlest of passions-from hers. Any longer after the necessary amount for aid would be most scandalous. As it was, the lady curtsied at him in her bright blue skirts, entreated him with a tweak of a smile and a handkerchief. It was love in the space of a few seconds. _

_ "Do we have to do another, father?" I asked, nonchalant, without hope. "We've already done five just to'day."_

_ Father peered at me solemnly over his thin spectacles. "Just one more, Lysselotte. Then we will be done for the day."_

_ "And mother will be waiting at home with the knitting and the candies." Jack said eagerly, though I feared it was more for the task then the reward._

_ "Mother is always waiting with the knitting and the candies, and that has no bearing 'tall to the matter. So be silent, Jack." I muttered disagreeably. _

_ "Don't be such a gray cloud, Lyss. It's only one of many."_

_ I sighed. It was no longer worth the trouble to breathe around those two._

_ "It's okay, dearest. Father knows best." _

_ My hand didn't tremble as I took the great brass knocker between my fingertips. My teeth were set with agitation, but only one gifted with mindsights would be able to tell._

_ It was not long before the door opened to greet the outside world with the smiling young bachelor. He had nice white teeth, wavy black hair, and warm gray eyes. Most of all he had no clue. It was always better that way._

_ "Madame? May I help you?" His initial smile easily encompassed me along with the rest of the stark English scenery. It faltered a bit, realizing the situation we were in. "Madame, pray tell; where is your chaperone? Have you encountered a fit of misfortune? Not a beggar are you, dressed like that? I cannot accept the scandal."_

_ "A troubling circumstance, sir. We've seemed to be separated, in the streets. A haggle with a shop-boy, and in seconds a great space between us." _

_ "My word, what a horror. You must be quite faint with worry." He looked concerned genuinely, and I appreciated his swift glance about the streets._

_ "Yes sir, I've had quite the regal scare. I know the dreadful imposition I place on your doorstep. Might you have an elder maiden in the household to escort me home?" _

_ "Well…my grandmother's on a visit, but…she's quite bedridden. I might be about to call the police, madame. Perhaps they know the patterns to your abode?"_

_ I smiled something of graciousness and concern in my own way. "My grand apologies and a most humble prayer that she may find strength in your character, good sir. Might I encroach upon your kindnesses a moment more that I shall wait for my escorts within? It is a harsh bit of cold about, and the streets are darkening."_

_ "I admit a caution to your righteous haste, ma'am; the streets are not yet empty, and words travel at an incredulous speed."_

_ "Indeed. I shall stand upon your steps in a most honourable fashion and await the blue guards."_

_ Teary eyes, shoulders delicately slumped, sorrow and defenselessness etched in apparent lines. A mask._

_ "At last thought, none of that. You seem a most respectable lady, one of a modern decency…I could not bear to leave you to the criminals sure to be like rats in the alleys. Come, have something warm for your throat, and meet my darling Evangeline."_

_ A curtsy and three steps forward. "My greatest pleasure, assured."_

_ We entered the home; he a step before and me after, treading like cats upon the thick red carpets._

_ "Evangeline! Evangeline! I've been to the door and an unexpected friend I have found!"_

_ He really was the gentleman, so much kinder to the fairest than others of the time._

_ Silence echoed his words, surely as I knew it would._

_ "Evangeline?" Worry rightly so. She deserved it far more than I._

_ Cross a sea if carpet, walls painted with chandeliers and glass. Past the good china, the small portrait by the fireplace. Past a short lifetime untouched by society._

_ I followed, hot on his heels, into the drawing room. I knew the scene before it was set; a man in flowing shirts and ragged vest, the torn breeches of an active life. Loose blonde curls to his shoulders, a placid smile on his lips, and the bloodied corpse of a girl in blue skirts in his arms._

_ Jack had got the Beauty._

_ "Sir Andrew Williams-Lockhartte, son of Governor John Daily Williams-Lockhartte and the Lady Elizabeth Anne Gates?" I inquired in a whisper so quiet it demanded the attention of the burning man on the floor. His eyes were filled with a most curious solution; the kind they always got during this final act of the play. _

_ "My deepest apologies. But my Father believes you should die to'night."_

Present Day

Mystic Falls. Of all the towns, cities, briars, and lochs. Mystic Falls. A place already too burdened with my kin. Why had he come here? Barely a new face came to the Falls; not since the dark times. The time of pitchforks and fire, and innocent blood to light their lanterns. Oh, it was my first time setting foot or feather in the place. But she'd whispered the histories at night when she'd come so late and I'd be so desperate to drift off alongside the fire. Why would he taint the place with our presence? But I knew his delusions, and this was definitely his work. I sighed, resigned to what I deigned my responsibility, and looked up at the warm brick building under the even warmer sun. Mystic Falls High. It was a place I knew well without even hearing about it; all the schools are the same. Social drams played out by actors who thought their petty problems made the earth ache and spin on its axis. A great bother for me to endure, but I had my mind set on solving this complicated equation, and nearly all the key variables of Mystic Falls resided within those walls. So I bucked up, put on my metaphorical cow boy hat, and headed off to the rodeo.

Not even seven steps in the door and I felt the weight of mixed gazes on my face, my clothes. Not a wonder; I was bloody eccentric in my day and now even more so. That didn't make the stares any more comfortable. For my means to meet their ends, I had to keep my teeth low on the radar. That being said; being a mid-semester newbie ultimately destroyed those hopes. I glanced down at the schedule I'd been sent, all printed out in the colors of apathy. _Lye Trick, grade twelve. _It wasn't my birth name, of course, but it had a nice sound to it and made me feel like a dandy little bar of soap. Skimming the dreadfully small print, I discovered my first class was marine biology; something I wasn't sure would particularly agree with me, but necessary for Plan A to not crumble into Plan B. I hefted my thin messenger bag over my shoulder and attempted the clotted halls once more; appreciating the impressive flexibility of some of my new peers for managing to squeeze themselves through the unluckiest openings.

Eventually, I found my class just fine. By the time I was seated, only the very last students were trickling through the door. The man up front-Mr. Grady-coughed a tad irritably at the last (who came in seconds after the bell), passed out syllabi, and entered into a thoroughly unimaginative introduction to marine biology. And so the trials of the day began.

By lunch, I was exhausted patience-wise with the American educational system. In fact, I'd rather chisel out my maths on a plot of stone than sit through another passionless welcome. Alas, I braved the cafeteria. I wasn't concerned about my New Girl Status. I wasn't here to make friends. With the Averages, anyway. I was here, the great Girl Scout that I am, to find a particular boy and that was that. I shuffled through the hot lunch line a bit caustically. I'd always found those plastic little trays heaped with unknown-allegedly-edible substances a bit perturbing. But sacrifices had to be made, and my tummy was making its needs heard.

I scanned the cafeteria twice before deciding to eat outside. I appreciated his good taste to not be in there. It was kind of stuffy, and definitely loud. Instead, I sighted him first lounging along one of the benches speckling the school grounds. Now was the time to make him make my first move. I sat a little ways off from him, sitting less than prim on the edge of an otherwise abandoned bench, and set my tray on one of my sides. I grimaced truthfully at the tray's contents, and went with the apple as my safest bet. I was swinging my legs slowly, polishing the apple on my hem and looking sad all the while, when he began to speak.

"Hey."

I ignored him, positioning my body just so he would think I honestly hadn't heard.

"Hey, you. With the blondeness?" He had a nice voice, full from growing up but light and easy.

I acknowledged him then, tilting my head towards him. "Yeah?"

"You're kind of ruining my spot. I come here for the quiet and that whole 'being alone' thing. It doesn't really work if there's someone else looking for the quiet and the aloneness, too."

"That's a problem, then, huh?" I asked, not making any move to apologize or leave.

"Guess so. I'd do the gentleman thing and go, but, uh. Nah." He smiled a little bit, proving his words weren't meant to drive me away. "You know you're dressed kinda funny, right?"

I didn't bother looking down at my vintage poets' shirt, corset, and skinny jeans. "You know your hair kinda looks like you're auditioning for the part of Angsty Teen, right? And definitely getting the part?"

"Touché."

"Lye Trick." I said, leaning forward to put out my hand. He took it, still smiling a little, and shook.

"Jeremy Gilbert."


	2. My Name is Sorrow

**A/N: Sigh D: Please bear with me. I have all the fabulous, angsty story arcs and twists written up, but I have to fill in the gaps before I can post. And thus: Here is a gap filler. **

"You're new here." He said. Why would I be surprised? Mystic Falls was hardly the next London. And I stuck out like blood on snow.

"For the most part I am. I visited awhile back."

"When was that?"

"A few summers ago, with my aunt." Many decades ago, with Katherine.

"Why are you here now?"

"I've got a thousand things to do before I die. Graduating is unfortunately one of them." I smiled with teeth, something I usually reserved for only the direst of matters. "My aunt put stock in this town some time ago, so I decided to finish things up here."

"So you live with your aunt, then?" He seemed intrigued, and I knew it was due to the common thread that would begin sewing us together.

"Yupp. She's got her own thing going on most nights, though, so honestly I wouldn't call it _living _together. More like we sleep in the same house."

"Same. Except mine gets pretty involved." Jeremy rolled his eyes. "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have a brother. He's off studying abroad, being a right scholar. Pride of the family, and all." Lies. Lies I didn't want to tell, but lies nonetheless. "You?"

"I have a sister. Elena. She goes here, too. I'm going to come out with it, and be boring; you're from England, right? Or somewhere European. Because you totally have the accent."

"We're only five minutes into our conversation and you bring that up? That _is _boring. I was hoping you'd be a little more mysterious about it. Yeah. I was born in London. My dad...," I struggled not to poison the word, "he used to have a travelling job." I gave him eyes to let him know it wasn't okay to ask about that quite now. Maybe not ever, depending on how long it took to get at Jack.

"That sounds…exciting. I don't think I've ever been very far from here. I'm a small-town boy." He said with a little bit of regret.

"Living in a lonely world." I sang, causing Jeremy to look up. "It doesn't have quite the same effect, does it? But that's no matter."

"You're odd. You know that?"

"I do."

"…I don't mind odd."

"Then we should be better than stars in the sky." I said, cocking my head to the side and examining him. The bell rang, breaking whatever we were trying to say with our silence.

"That's my cue." Jeremy said, pointing vaguely to the sky. "Meet me after school?"

I nodded. "Exit stage left."

After the final bell, I walked through the halls aimlessly, sure I'd find Jeremy one way or another. I thought about our chat, about the way he accepted me so easily. That didn't mean he was naïve. It meant he was too kind to live in this town. I felt the briefest well of guilt at lying to him so early on in our friendship, but I brushed it aside just as easily. I vowed to lie as required, and aim to not hurt him in the process. But Jeremy was my key to Elena, who was the key to finding Jack. And then everyone would be a lot more happy and a lot more alive, whether they realized it or not. I turned the corner into the courtyard, my messenger bag hitting the backs of my knees with each step. I spotted Jeremy with a group a couple yards off, and he waved me over once he saw me, too.

"Hey."

"And that's how the last one started." I said. "Hey, Jeremy."

"How was it? Your first day?"

"Well. There were desks. And there were books. And there was a lot of tiny print on very large pages. I was not particularly moved." I smiled. "But people watching was fun."

"Speaking of people, I thought it might be kind of cool to have you meet my sister and the, um-"

"-gang?" I offered. It sounded a lot less intense and a lot more like Scooby Doo.

"That's what we'll call it. Lye, this is Elena."

"Hey." Elena said. She looked a lot like Katherine had said; a lot like Katherine. They could easily manage all sorts of lookalike mischief. But the differences were equally as obvious as the fact that they looked alike. Elena might have the contours of Katherine, but she had nothing of her soul. And that was one mixed blessing I'm sure she was already aware of. "Nice to meet you. Jeremy was just telling us about you being the new Brit on campus."

"You could say that."

"-And this is Bonnie and Stefan." I lifted my gaze from Elena to take in the last two, though I'd already scoped them out before. They looked like faerie tales, the both of them. Bonnie…Bonnie looked so terribly much like Emily. The witch had never taken much warmth to me in the past, and I had to wonder what sort of chaos would be borne between us this time around. Maybe things would be different. After all, Katherine and Elena were said to each have either fire or ice inside of them. I just had to figure out which Bonnie had. And Stefan. He was simply himself. I fit Katherine's words, her laughter, to the portrait she'd shown me of her men so long ago. The clothes had changed, and so had the expression on his face. Everything else remained.

"I'm Lye." I said simply. "And I live here now. _And _I don't know anyone. So you should be my friends."

"I think we can do that." Stefan said pleasantly, with an ironic lift to his brow.

Jeremy looked upwards as it started to rain.

"We better head out. See you tomorrow?"

"Sure thing."

Bonnie's eyes met mine as they began to disperse.

"Well. Welcome to Mystic Falls."


End file.
